Sanctuaries
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Summer and Freedom, from Dairy to Sanctuary
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Herbie the Rescued Calf Has a Ball
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And a Precious Few Find Sanctuary, Joy, Friendship, and Love
Helping Donald the Crippled Rooster and Harvest Home Sanctuary
Published November 12, 2009 @ 03:02PM PT
It seems that once every couple months, I learn about another growing or small animal sanctuary that I previously didn't know existed. And this is always a lovely surprise. This time, it's the Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in California, which I learned about via Marji of Animal Place Sanctuary (and of the Animal Place blog).
One of Harvest Home's residents (you can meet the others here) needs surgery. His name is Donald. He hatched into a first grade classroom as a project -- and he emerged from his egg with deformed legs. When Harvest Home first met him, "one of his legs was splayed at a 90 degree angle, while the other leg was supported with curled toes." He was only four months old, yet "his daily routine was a struggle. A struggle to reach food and water. A struggle to stay clean. A struggle to move without thrashing around." So Donald needs surgery, expensive surgery.
Sanctuaries, especially new, small, or not-well-known sanctuaries, are not awash in money. But that doesn't change how much the animals for whom they care need and deserve help and the best medical care possible. If you'd like to help this growing sanctuary -- if you'd like to help raise the funds that will allow Donald to get his surgery -- you can donate here. I know that there are far more individual animals in dire need of help than I could document here -- than scores of us could document here -- even if every hour of the day were devoted to that task. But it's good to acknowledge them, and help them, as individuals whenever we can. Best of luck, Donald.
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Photo courtesy of Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary
A Chance to Help Midwestern Waterfowl
Published September 17, 2009 @ 12:44PM PT
The compassionate advocates behind the Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary of Bloomington, Indiana, have a new project in the works -- and fellow animal advocates have a chance to help them over the next several days. As explained on the project page for the in-progress Waterfowl Rehab Center,
After finding that there are currently no waterfowl rehabilitation facilities in southcentral Indiana, we spent the summer setting up just such a facility. A small amount of your time and money will help us complete this project and create a new chance for hundreds of birds.
The Tortoise at Woodstock
Published September 09, 2009 @ 03:14PM PT
Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary has a new temporary resident. Check out his adorableness (short story below the video):
From Woodstock:
Ciyalana or "Ciya" (pronounced See Ya!) is a 20 pound African Spurred Tortoise who was abandoned in a NYC park about 4 years ago. He is estimated to be 11 years old, with a life expectancy of 70-80 years! Why is a non-farm animal here at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary? His permanent home, the Lower East Side Ecology Center in Manhattan, is undergoing major renovations over the next year, and we've agreed to provide a loving foster home for this little guy in the meantime.
"You Don't Know What You're Talking About; You've Never Worked on a Farm"
Published September 04, 2009 @ 06:38AM PT
Photo, taken at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary, by Deb Durant of Invisible Voices
In a recent comment thread here at Change.org, site member and animal advocate Gary Loewenthal responded to a version of the sentiment expressed in the title of this post, some varieties of which argue that animal advocates are all urbanites with not a clue about rural farming culture or that animal advocates really know nothing about farmed animals in general or that they have no concept of what really goes on in animal ag. With permission, I share Gary's thoughtful response to some aspects of this argument below.
But before I do, I will also say (as I have before, I know) that this kind of dismissal from proponents and defenders of animal ag also ignores that some of the animal rights movement's most compelling and passionate advocates are and have been former farmers (small- and large-scale alike), former hunters, former slaughterhouse workers; many others of us are originally from farming communities or families. The undercover investigators who see, time and time again, what "really" happens on farms would also disagree that they don't know what they're talking about. And then, finally, there are these excellent points from Gary (who is too humble about his knowledge of animal issues; I am consistently impressed by his knowledge and ability to articulate it thoughtfully):
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Many animal advocates, such as me, volunteer at farmed animal sanctuaries. At those wonderful places (which I recommend everyone visit), I submit that we are able to see animals in ways that farmers virtually never experience.
A) We never look at the animals in terms of what they can produce, or as disposable business assets. I think that way of looking at individuals blocks your ability to truly appreciate their uniqueness, their moods, and their nuances. We see the sanctuary animals as unique individuals, sometimes as friends, and to varying degrees we sense and share in their joy and sadness.
Evacuation Help Needed for California Animal Sanctuaries
Published August 31, 2009 @ 06:53AM PT
Please check out Kelly's post at easyVegan.info on the animal-sanctuary evacuations underway or being prepared for in California as a result of the wildfires. Animal Acres, in Acton, CA (north of Los Angeles and under mandatory evacuation), has already begun the process of moving animals. Additionally, the Gentle Barn rescue in Santa Clarita, CA, may need to start evacuating soon as well. California readers especially, please read through Kelly's entire post to find out how you may be able to provide vital help during the evacuations (information on the Gentle Barn situation follows presentation of the long Kinship Circle alert for Animal Acres).
Because Sometimes We All Need a Little Bit of Adorable
Published August 06, 2009 @ 08:20AM PT
Wally and Nemo; photo courtesy of Woodstock FAS
In February, the folks at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary uploaded the below upbeat video of the happy arrival of four rescued piglets, Eva, Nemo, Pinky, and Wally. Noting similarities between pigs and dogs is nothing new, but still, I don't know how anyone could watch these little ones running around and playing gleefully at their safe new home and not think of puppies (and question their eating of pigs). The story of how they ended up at the sanctuary appears after the video:
Chuckles and Arabelle: Who They Are, Not How They "Taste"
Published August 03, 2009 @ 07:15AM PT
Chuckles came to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in 2001; he was around 1 year old, and had been found wandering the streets in Northeast DC.
When Arabelle arrived at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary last summer, she was a tiny baby, small enough that it took a few days before Terry and Dave were certain that she was a guinea hen, rather than a turkey. Yet the guineas weren't interested in hanging out with her, and so it was a gentle turkey named Gertrude who took her under her wing and raised Arabelle.
Though in those early days she seemed to move and act like her surrogate mother, and we wondered if she thought of herself as a turkey, Arabelle now spends all of her time with one of the other guineas, Chuckles. They roam their part of the sanctuary, always together.
